EX-QUALCOMM EXECUTIVE INDICTED

Federal authorities indicted a former executive vice president at Qualcomm on Monday, saying that he was the mastermind of an elaborate insider trading scheme. His brother in China and a former stock broker for Merrill Lynch in San Diego were also implicated.

Jing Wang, 51, of Del Mar, who was also the president of global business operations for the San Diego wireless technology giant, is accused of using secret brokerage accounts and offshore shell companies to conduct the illegal trades and hide the proceeds, said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

Charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and money laundering in the scheme was Wang’s brother, Bing Wang, 53, a government official in Anhui province, China. Gary Yin, 54, of San Diego, a former Merrill Lynch senior vice president and financial adviser, is expected to be charged with conspiracy today.

The federal indictments were announced by Duffy at a news conference that also included officials from the FBI, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Internal Revenue Service. Jing Wang, who was charged with insider trading, conspiracy, money laundering and identity theft, pleaded not guilty Monday. He faces up to 22 years in prison if convicted. His bail was set at $3 million.

Duffy said Wang used information from Qualcomm that was strictly secret even though he was repeatedly notified not to use the confidential business information to engage in stock transactions.

“Qualcomm has been aware of the investigation and has been cooperating fully with the government’s investigation,” said Don Rosenberg, an executive vice president and general counsel for the company. “This is an individual matter involving Mr. Wang, who is no longer employed by Qualcomm, and this matter will now be addressed through the legal system.”

The company said Jing Wang resigned in May after having been on administrative leave for a year.

Yin was placed on leave in February and fired in April after investigators said he made inaccurate statements during an internal inquiry, Merrill Lynch spokesman Bill Halden said Monday.

Duffy described a series of alleged illegal trades by Jing Wang involving Qualcomm stock that began in March 2010 and earned him some $250,000.

In the first transaction, she said, Jing Wang learned that Qualcomm was about to announce an increased quarterly dividend and a $3 billion stock repurchase program.

Duffy said he illegally acted on that information, directing Yin to purchase Qualcomm shares using an offshore account called Unicorn Global Enterprises that the two had set up in the British Virgin Islands. Wang made it to appear that his brother owned the account, she said.

After Qualcomm announced the news, its stock went up about 10 percent, and Wang sold the stock and made a $94,000 profit, Duffy said. Yin, the investment adviser, also traded on the information for a profit, SEC officials said.

In October 2010, the indictment alleges that Wang learned Qualcomm was going to purchase Atheros Communications, and he instructed Yin to buy as many shares of Atheros as possible.

Once the acquisition was announced, Wang sold the stock and made more than $100,000, Duffy said.